Black Panther is one of the superior superhero origin stories, one that introduces the nation of Wakanda into Marvel’s fantastical version of Earth. Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa had already been introduced into the series through a memorable cameo in Civil War, but Black Panther laid out his backstory and place of origin.

While the story exists practically in a vacuum, due to the isolationist tradition of Wakanda, the ending, and even the existence of Wakanda, has a significant impact on the future of the Marvel universe.

Spoiler Warning

When T’Challa decides to publicly spill the secret of Wakanda and its abundant magical metal, vibranium, he is altering the outside world forever. Sure, we’ve seen Vibranium before in the MCU, but it was used exceedingly sparingly, to forge Captain America’s iconic shield and the final body of Ultron.

It’s been stated that the metal is practically indestructible, and its unique properties allow for the creation of advanced technology - a precious metal, indeed. But now, T’Challa just casually revealed that Wakanda has been hiding mountains of the stuff for centuries.

The machines we see in Wakanda outshine Tony Stark’s inventions, and even rival the intergalactic technology of Guardians of the Galaxy. Wakanda features heavily in the trailers for Infinity War; presumably, Earth needs the nation’s insane sci-fi technology to stand a chance against Thanos and his alien invasion.

Overnight, the African nation has become the most important place on Marvel’s Earth. This is a fascinating development, because it symbolizes Marvel’s intent to embrace diversity. The original line-up of the Avengers was a bunch of white guys and one white girl, which might be true to the original comics, but isn’t exactly representative of the many faces of modern-day America.

War Machine and Falcon were eventually added to the roster, but both reeked of tokenism, seeming more like sidekicks than superheroes (what is the heck is War Machine, other than a Diet Iron Man?) Really, it was the arrival of Black Panther that truly changed the face of the Marvel movies, opening the door to diversity.

This shift was foreshadowed during Civil War, the ideological conflict that tore the Avengers apart. In the film, Black Panther does something unprecedented - he damages Captain America’s iconic shield with his vibranium claws, defacing the image of the American flag; the symbolism couldn’t have been clearer.